“Where the Stars Rise” Review

Jen

The book cover has areas of blue with shades of purple with white lights (stars) scattered around the cover. In the center is a spaceship pointed upwards with a dragon wrapped around it and then extending above facing towards the left. The title of the anthology is at the bottom with the editors names. Full Title: “Where the Stars Rise: Asian Science Fiction and Fantasy”
Edited by Lucas K. Law and Derwin Mak
Published by Laksa Media Groups Inc., October 2017
352 Pages
Completed April 26, 2024

Follow twenty-three science fiction and fantasy authors on their journeys through Asia and beyond. Stories that explore magic and science. Stories about love, revenge, and choices. Stories that challenge ideas about race, belonging, and politics. Stories about where we come from and where we are going.

Each wrestling between ghostly pasts and uncertain future. Each trying to find a voice in history.

Orphans and drug-smuggling in deep space. Mechanical arms in steampunk Vancouver. Djinns and espionage in futuristic Istanbul. Humanoid robot in steamy Kerala. Monsters in the jungles of Cebu. Historic time travel in Gyeongbok Palace. A rocket launch in post-apocalyptic Tokyo. A drunken ghost in Song Dynasty China. A displaced refugee skating on an ice planet. And much more.

Embrace them as you take on their journeys. And don’t look back…

Another great collection of short stories. I enjoyed reading the majority of the stories in the book. There were a couple I wasn’t quite sure what was happening and didn’t enjoy as much but they were worth trying them. All of them had interesting ideas and characters. It was interesting seeing the different Asian cultural contexts for the stories and the ways the science fiction and fantasy elements played out. This would be another anthology where it’s important to read the forward and the afterword for some additional context. As always I’ll be checking out all the authors to see what else they’ve written. I’ve already read a book by at least one of the authors, Meru by S.B. Divya – great book.

“The Last Watch” Review

Jen

The cover is black with stars and a spaceship near the bottom of the cover. The ship is in the process of being destroyed with a blue light cutting cross the middle of it at an angle. To the right of the light the ship is nothing but a cloud of debris. On the left side is the rest of the ship still whole. The top half of the cover is take up by the title and below the ship it says "They're humanities last chance" and then the author's name below that. At the very top of the cover there is a statement "An epic tale of survival at the end of the universe" by Meghan E. O'Keefe, author of Velocity Weapon. Written by J. S. Dewes
Published by Tor Books, April 2021
472 Pages
Completed April 20, 2023

The Divide. It’s the edge of the universe.Now it’s collapsing—and taking everyone and everything with it. The only ones who can stop it are the Sentinels—the recruits, exiles, and court-martialed dregs of the military.

At the Divide, Adequin Rake commands the Argus. She has no resources, no comms—nothing, except for the soldiers that no one wanted. Her ace in the hole could be Cavalon Mercer—genius, asshole, and exiled prince who nuked his grandfather’s genetic facility for “reasons.” She knows they’re humanity’s last chance.

It took me a while to get into this book. I enjoyed the characters the whole way though but the plot felt slow until the end when more things were figured out. By the end of the book I was enjoying the set up of what was happening and what needed to be done. I did end up feeling though a lot more could have been explained about who the characters were and what the different groups were all about. It made it a little difficult to really get into the story when I didn’t understand who they were fighting in places. Maybe I missed an explanation but I had no clue about one group in the book. Without spoiling too much there’s also a plot point that only some members of the Argus make it off – it’s not clear how many and also only a few are ever really involved in the story. In the end though I did enjoy the book and will be reading the sequel to find out what happens next.

“Tell Me How It Ends” Review

Jen

The book cover is a drawing of a person sitting behind a table with a set of 5 tarot cards that are face up on the table. Everything is various shades of purple. Written by Quinton Li
Published by Quinton Li Editorial, April 2023
326 pages
Completed April 7, 2024

Iris Galacia’s tarot cards do more than entertain gamblers. With the flip of her fingers she can predict the future and uncover a person’s secrets. But under the watchful eye of her mother, she is on thin ice for pursuing a passion in the family business, and then cracks start to form until she eventually she falls through. She is given an ultimatum — a test to prove her worth: earn a thousand coins or leave the business, and the family.

Enter Marin Boudreau, a charming young person who can scale buildings and break off door knobs, who comes for her help to rescue a witch who’s been falsely imprisoned in Excava Kingdom. And Marin is willing to pay a high sum for her talents. But saving a prisoner from royal hands isn’t easy, nor is leaving home for the first time in eighteen years.

Now Iris must learn to trust in herself, Marin, and this new magical world, while racing the clock before the royals decide the fate of the witch, and before any secrets catch up to her.

I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this book because a lot of my issues with it can be explained by it being both a “cozy fantasy” and young adult. I did enjoy some things about it – the characters were interesting and all that. However, conflicts that should have been more serious are resolved almost instantly and with more compassion (from villains) than seems reasonable for anyone. Even the ending of the story with Iris making a choice about what to do next was too easy. Without spoiling too much, Marin never really proves themselves to be trust worthy and Iris feels too sheltered and naive to really be reliable in picking what she should do next. There’s a lot of reasons why she should escape her current life but it doesn’t feel like the found family she found is all that safe either. That said – how I feel about the ending of the book might be more about my personality (and age), along with the genres, than the story itself. One thing I did like was the way the Tarot cards were used in the story – there were a lot of good details about how they worked and how they helped Iris figure out what to do next. Not a series I’ll continue, but honestly if you like cozy fantasy with found family where things are resolved easily it might be more your cup of tea than mine.

“Safe and Sound” Review

Jen

The cover has a drawing of a woman with blue/green hair in a pink plaid shirt and blue overalls standing in front of a workbench with several tools on it and a peg board behind them. Woman is holding up a drill with her other hand on her hip. The title is in box above the woman's head and the title is above that.Full Title: “Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair”
Written by: Mercury Stardust
Published by Alpha, August 2023
224 pages
Completed April 3, 2024

For too many people, the simple act of contacting a plumber or repair person can feel like a game of chance. As a transwoman and a professional maintenance technician, Mercury Stardust has discovered (the hard way) that we live in a world with much to fear. If you’ve ever felt panicked about opening your home to strangers in order to fix a maintenance issue, this book is for you.

Renting a home can be a complex process—from finding a safe and affordable space, to hiring help for moving and out, and of course, managing any repairs that come up during your stay.

You deserve to feel empowered to take matters into your own hands—and it’s not as hard as you might think. In this book, Mercury will show you how to tackle the projects that need improvement in your home—from how to properly fix a clog in your bathroom sink and safely hang things on your walls to patching small and medium drywall holes.

This is a great book for anyone who’s renting and needs some tips for everything from finding an apartment to making repairs and more. There’s a lot of great information in the book with very detailed explanations for what tools to use and how to complete the repairs. There’s also a section at the end of the book with a lot of great information about the various laws and various resources for tenants in the United States that may prove useful to many.

“Light from Uncommon Stars” Review

Jen

The majority of the cover is a view of space with stars and patches of nebulas in lighter blue. there's a spaceship flying across the top of the cover and the title of the book is written in large font across the middle of the cover with the authors name at the bottomWritten by Ryka Aoki
Published by Tor Books, September 2021
372 pages
Completed March 29, 2024

Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.

When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka’s ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She’s found her final candidate.

But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn’t have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan’s kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul’s worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.

As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.

This was a very cool and very strange story. Other reviews have said it felt like multiple stories being told at once and that’s sort of true. But really it feels like multiple lives intersecting in a time and place in various complicated ways and we’re just going along for the ride. Which is how life works. Books usually focus on one story but this one was a bit more realistic to life with multiple people and their stories connecting. It’s also multi-genre in that it’s a bit science fiction and a bit fantasy and a bit coming of age general fiction for one of the characters. And I really enjoyed getting to know all of the characters – even Shizuka Satomi and her complicated history. Some would say she’s evil but it feels more complicated than that. There’s a couple places where I think things could have been explained a little more bot overall everything was great about the book. Hopefully all continues to go well for everyone!

“Real Sugar is Hard to Find” Review

Jen

The cover is taken up by hills and fields with drones flying over head and a dark brown sky. There is a person standing in the front center of the cover holding a container with a cake inside and wearing a respirator mask. They're wearing brown clothing and red boots. The title is across the top and the authors name is near the bottom right corner. Written by Sim Kern
Published by Android Press, August 2022
206 Pages
Completed March 25, 2024

A collection of short stories by Sim Kern, REAL SUGAR IS HARD TO FIND explores intersections of climate change, reproductive justice, queer identities, and family trauma. Whether fantasy, science fiction, or terrifyingly close-to-home, the worlds of these stories are inhabited by flawed characters whose lives are profoundly impacted by climate change and environmental degradation.

Arranged in a progression from dystopian to utopian worlds, the stories chart a path from climate despair towards resilience and revolutionary optimism. Even in the bleakest of futures, however, Kern offers reasons to hope, connect, and keep fighting for a better world.

This was a great collection of stories! I enjoyed all of them though there were a couple I did want to know more about what was going to happen next. That said most of them did feel complete and even the ones that didn’t ended in a way that made sense for what was being told. As the description says even with the darker stories there was always a sense of possibility and hope. I’d read anything by Sim Kern at this point.

“Breakout” Review

Jen

The cover is a view of space with several colors purple, blue, green among the stars. There is a planet at the bottom of the core with two visible moons and a space ship over the planet. The title is at the top of the cover with the author's name. Full Title “Breakout: The Altayih Chronicles 1”
Written by Alek L. Cristea
Self published, February 2023
324 pages
Completed March 24, 2024

Malek dreams of owning his own ship and escaping the prison he’s been unjustly held in. When his escape plan collides with the agenda of a Shinarian girl, he must choose between trusting her and going alone. Trystan, on the radical colony Eden One, discovers his father’s involvement in a terrible project and must decide whether to act despite risking everything. Làhn, a skilled thief, is framed for a crime he didn’t commit and must piece together his past to clear his name. Together, they must confront Berik Corp, a powerful entity threatening the galaxy’s stability.

This was a fun and exciting read. I really liked that along with the Trans / Queer representations there were various disability and mental health representations as well. The characters are great and I really enjoyed learning about them. Each of the three main characters has their own group of friends that are going along for the journey which makes things more exciting. The book ends in a way that makes it feel like a pilot episode for a tv show with a long story arc but will have standalone episodes along the way to completing the arc. Definitly a lot of story possibilities! I’m looking forward to reading the next book.

“This Arab Is Queer” Review

Jen

The cover has a white background with the title in the center in outlined letters "This Arab is Queer" and the subtitle is in solid black with the editors name below it. Around the top and bottom are shapes in rainbow colors - red at the top ending with purple at the bottom Full Title: This Arab Is Queer: An Anthology by LGBTQ+ Arab Writers
Edited by Elias Jahshan
Published by Saqi Books, January 2022
216 pages
Completed March 23,2024

This ground-breaking anthology features the compelling and courageous memoirs of eighteen queer Arab writers — some international bestselling, others using pseudonyms. Here, we find heart-warming connections and moments of celebration alongside essays exploring the challenges of being LGBTQ+ and Arab.

From a military base in the Gulf to loving whispers caught between bedsheets; and from touring overseas as a drag queen to a concern in Cairo where the rainbow flag was raised to a crowd of thousands, this collection celebrates the true colours of a vibrant Arab queer experience.

This was a great collection of stories. Each one felt important to read and understand as the individuals told their stories. As the introduction explains being Arab and Queer can be difficult for a number of reasons and each person has had to deal with a lot because of where they come from. There are also other issues they have to deal with as well. There was a range of different queer topics that were good and informative. Some stories were harder to read than others – with different issues happening to the individuals. I’m glad I read this book and I’ve already looked up the authors to learn more about them.

2024 Trans Rights Read-a-Thon

Jen

Information graphic announcing the read a thon and the dates March 22nd through 29th and my two goals to raise money for OUT MetroWest and to read at least three books. The covers for the books are displayed in the picture and are also named in the text of the postThe 2024 Trans Rights Read-a-Thon has begun and this year I am fundraising for OUT MetroWest located in Framingham, Massachusetts!

“The Trans Rights Readathon is an annual call to action to readers and book lovers in support of Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV) on March 31st.”

My Fundraiser for OUT MetroWest

More information about the Trans Rights Readathon

I will be reading the following books this year:

“This Arab is Queer: An Anthology by LGBTQ+ Arab Writers”
Edited by Elias Jahshan

“Real Sugar is Hard to Find” a collection of short stories by
Sim Kern

“Breakout” – first novel in new series by Alek Cristea, described as a “space-opera/cyberpunk adventure featuring queer teens in space fighting back against oppression.”

Previous books I’ve read with Trans characters or written by Trans individuals include:

“The Thirty Names of Night” by Zeyn Joukhadar

“Seeds for the Swarm” by Sim Kern

“Transcendent: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction” by K.M. Szpara et al.

Other books written by or with Trans individuals

“Lakelore” by Anna-Marie McLemore

“Depart, Depart!” By Sim Kern

“Hell Followed With Us” by Andrew Joseph White

“We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir” by Samra Habib

“VenCo” by Cherie Dimaline

“The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester” by Maya MacGregor

“The Wicked Bargain” by Gabe Cole Novoa

“The Evolving Truth of Ever-Stronger Will” by Maya MacGregor

“The Free People’s Village” by Sim Kern

“The Gilded Ones” trilogy by Namina Forna


“The Eternal Ones” Review

Jen

The cover is blue. There is a young dark skinned woman on the cover facing towards the left with her head facing forwards. She has log black hair tied in braids with several gold claps holding it. She is also wearing a short sleeved gold and green tunic and necklaces in various colors. She has gold designs on her cheek and a gold earring. The title is near the bottom of the cover across the woman.Written by Namina Forna
Published by Delacorte Press, February 2024
480 pages
Completed March 13, 2024

Mere weeks after confronting the Gilded Ones—the false beings she once believed to be her family—Deka is on the hunt. In order to kill the gods, whose ravenous competition for power is bleeding Otera dry, she must uncover the source of her divinity. But with her mortal body on the verge of ruin, Deka is running out of time—to save herself and an empire that’s tearing itself apart at its seams.

When Deka’s search leads her and her friends to the edge of the world as they know it, they discover an astonishing new realm, one which holds the key to Deka’s past. Yet it also illuminates a devastating decision she must soon make…

Choose to be reborn as a god, losing everyone she loves in the process. Or bring about the end of the world.

I really enjoyed the this book and the resolution to the series. While I don’t love everything about how it turned out I felt like it was realistic for the story being told. As with the previous novels I enjoyed the character development and relationships Deka continued to develop with the other characters, new and previously met. Throughout the series the world building was interesting with the different gods and how they ended up doing what they did which influenced how humans developed.